This is it for Spring Scream! I wrote the last part on the Bande à part blog yesterday, and also posted a few pictures. I am now in the outskirts of the city of Taichung, in Central Taiwan. I stayed at a hostel near Chung Tai University, and was the only guest there that night. … Continue reading “Spring Scream 2008 Double Rat – the outro”
This is it for Spring Scream! I wrote the last part on the Bande à part blog yesterday, and also posted a few pictures.
I am now in the outskirts of the city of Taichung, in Central Taiwan. I stayed at a hostel near Chung Tai University, and was the only guest there that night. Goes without saying that it was a little creepy staying by yourself in such a large place in the middle of nowhere… I am now heading out to the city, and then to Taipei.
I am in Kenting for Spring Scream. While my mode of transportation is the man-propelled bicycle, it is definitely the scooter that predominates in Kenting.
I am in Kenting for Spring Scream. While my mode of transportation is the man-propelled bicycle, it is definitely the scooter that predominates in Kenting.
This seemingly innocuous slogan means nothing to the English ear, but to Cantonese speakers, it’s a well-known homonym for “xxxx your mother” (see Google). It was recently popularized by fashion chain Goods of Desire, and I got this mug from them.
This seemingly innocuous slogan means nothing to the English ear, but to Cantonese speakers, it’s a well-known homonym for “xxxx your mother” (see Google). It was recently popularized by fashion chain Goods of Desire, and I got this mug from them.
Consider that Hennessy Road is the main artery crossing through Hong Kong Island, is something like five lanes wide, on top of two tramway lanes, and you will agree with me that jaywalking it is not for the weakhearted! This morning, on my way to visa office, I noticed several people traversing Hennessy outside of … Continue reading “Jaywalking on Hennessy Road”
Consider that Hennessy Road is the main artery crossing through Hong Kong Island, is something like five lanes wide, on top of two tramway lanes, and you will agree with me that jaywalking it is not for the weakhearted!
This morning, on my way to visa office, I noticed several people traversing Hennessy outside of designated crossings. One must know that at several places, Hennessy is fenced, effectively preventing pedestrians from jaywalking to the other side. For someone who comes to Hong Kong every three years, and who is not fully awake (HK follows the British habit of driving on the wrong side…), jaywalking can be pretty risky business, and I was very surprised to notice these people, a business man in suit, highschoolers, going about as if it was nothing…
Just arrived in Hong Kong, and using the wifi network here. Unlike in Newark, where I had to pay $8 for my Internet, the service at Hong Kong International Airport is free! Got out a lot earlier than I thought, so I took out my laptop to blog, check e-mails for 15 minutes (must not … Continue reading “Arrival in Hong Kong”
Just arrived in Hong Kong, and using the wifi network here. Unlike in Newark, where I had to pay $8 for my Internet, the service at Hong Kong International Airport is free!
Got out a lot earlier than I thought, so I took out my laptop to blog, check e-mails for 15 minutes (must not get sucked in). The flight was 15-hour long from Newark. With the 4-hour wait in New Jersey, and the flight from Montreal, this was a total of 22 hours spent travelling.
Very exciting to be back in Hong Kong. The most striking thing? Masses of people who look like me, and who speak in Cantonese (sometimes in Mandarin, or presumably Tagalog, as I encountered what seemed to be Filipina maids-to-be (or were they just travellers like me?…).
I traded in my old Octopus, got 30 dollars back, but had to pay 150HKD to get a new one.
Got today’s SCMP and I suppose that I am ready to take the A11 to meet my grandparents, who rented a flat out in the 300-something Hennessy, in Wan Chai.
China, here I come! Next Saturday, I am flying to Hong Kong for a six-week trip across Greater China, which means Hong Kong, Taiwan and Mainland China. On this odyssey, I will be stopping at places like Kenting, Taiwan, during Ching Ming, tomb-cleaning day (and long weekend across the region) for Spring Scream; in Guangdong, … Continue reading “Comme les Chinois chez les Chinois”
China, here I come! Next Saturday, I am flying to Hong Kong for a six-week trip across Greater China, which means Hong Kong, Taiwan and Mainland China. On this odyssey, I will be stopping at places like Kenting, Taiwan, during Ching Ming, tomb-cleaning day (and long weekend across the region) for Spring Scream; in Guangdong, on my way to my ancestral village; in Beijing, in the last two weeks of April; and finally back in Hong Kong to see my family.
To my huge surprise, friends based in China have told me that my site is blocked in my country of origin, despite the very little or inexistent political contents on this blog! Maybe it was the use of forbidden words, but anyways, it will be quite a technical challenge to update this site. Also take a look at my Flickr account during my stay. You may contact me at cedric@commeleschinois.ca.
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Chine, me voilà! Samedi prochain, je m’envole pour Hong Kong pour un voyage de six semaines à travers l’Asie “chinoise”, c’est-à-dire, Hong Kong, Taiwan, puis la Chine continentale. Ce périple sera marqué par des arrêts à Kenting, Taiwan, lors du Ching Ming, jour du nettoyage des tombes (et long weekend à travers la région) pour le Spring Scream; dans le Guangdong, en route vers mon village ancestral; à Beijing, dans les deux dernières semaines d’avril; et finalement de retour à Hong Kong, pour visiter ma famille.
À ma grande surprise, des amis basés en Chine me disent que ce site est bloqué dans mon pays d’origine, malgré le contenu peu ou pas politique de ce blogue! Peut-être c’est juste le fait d’utiliser des mots interdits, mais en tout cas, ce sera un défi technique de mettre ce site à jour. Voyez aussi mon compte sur Flickr. Vous pouvez me contacter par e-mail à cedric@commeleschinois.ca.
Read my update (2009-11-03): What will $200 in fact still get you on Shanghai Street? Brothels in Hong Kong are pretty obvious, even to the untrained eye. In 2002, on my first trip to Hong Kong, I was told by relatives to well differentiate between karaoke bars and music boxes (the latter being the one … Continue reading “What $200 Will Buy on Shanghai Street”
Read my update (2009-11-03): What will $200 in fact still get you on Shanghai Street?
Brothels in Hong Kong are pretty obvious, even to the untrained eye. In 2002, on my first trip to Hong Kong, I was told by relatives to well differentiate between karaoke bars and music boxes (the latter being the one that you go to with family and young children). In 2005, when I decided to walk on my own in the streets of Hong Kong, I finally realized that they might just be part of the background, almost as if it were just any other “service”.
My friends Chris and Laine are apparently having a great time in Hong Kong, eating well, wandering in a lot of places. Yesterday, Chris posted a pair of articles on Urbanphoto, including a piece on the brothel area on Shanghai Street, around Yau Ma Tei and Jordan:
Shanghai Street is one of those long, straight Kowloon roads that seem to change character every few blocks. In the south, near Jordan Road, are grocery stores and restaurants, along with a handful of shops catering to Nepalese, Indian and Pakistani immigrants. In the north, past Argyle Street, home furnishing stores predominate. The red light district falls somewhere in between.
For the most part, brothels in Yau Ma Tei and Mongkok are coyly disguised as “karaoke bars,” their real vocation indicated by the pretty, busty girls on their signs, often accompanied by a price. On Shanghai Street, though, the sex trade is as blatant as it gets in Hong Kong, with hookers waiting on the sidewalk and brothels that do away with all pretense of offering karaoke and instead unabashedly advertise their real wares. Here, racism and sexism come together in cardboard signs posted at the entrances to old walkup apartment buildings: “China Girl 250; Hong Kong Girl 250; Malay Girl 200; Russian Girl 550; Free Preview.”
It’s a bit of a shock to see these signs displayed so openly, especially since most aspects of prostitution, including the operation of a brothel, are illegal in Hong Kong. It is hard not to read into them a mirror of the more unsavoury side of Hong Kong society, one that is often shameless in its contempt for the 300,000 Filipina and Indonesian domestic helpers that live and work in the territory.
Yesterday, on the bus, my girlfriend overhead a couple ranting about the gall their helper had in asking for time off to visit her sick mother in the Philippines. “What, does she think that she’ll get better if she goes to visit?” one of them said, before complaining about her eating habits. “Some of those damn Filipinas eat so much.” With attitudes like that, is it any surprise that such a low value is placed on women, and in particular Southeast Asian women, on Shanghai Street?
But the red light district on lasts for only a few blocks; it’s easy to walk past and, if you want, easy to forget.
This article was originally posted by Christopher DeWolf on the collaborative blog Urbanphoto, which he runs.
It is mostly old contents, but on a newly redesigned/rethought CBC Digital Archives website, launched today with its sister project, the Archives de Radio-Canada. There is among other things a very interesting topic on Chinese immigration to Canada with 20-something clips from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s television and radio archives. C’est en grande majorité du … Continue reading “Chinese Canadians in the CBC Digital Archives”
It is mostly old contents, but on a newly redesigned/rethought CBC Digital Archives website, launched today with its sister project, the Archives de Radio-Canada. There is among other things a very interesting topic on Chinese immigration to Canada with 20-something clips from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s television and radio archives.
C’est en grande majorité du vieux contenu, mais sur un tout nouveau site reconceptualisé/repensé des Archives de Radio-Canada lancé aujourd’hui en compagnie de son jumeau, le CBC Digital Archives. Il existe entre autres un intéressant dossier sur l’immigration chinoise au Canada, avec une vingtaine de clips provenant des archives audio et vidéo de la Société Radio-Canada (incluant un reportage entier sur Honkouver (sic)).
Le Regarde les Chinois de cette semaine est un peu particulier parce qu’il a été réalisé juste avant un interview que j’allais donner à mon invitée! Mercredi dernier, j’ai rencontré Yvonne Lo avant l’émission en cantonais qu’elle co-anime deux fois par semaine sur les ondes de Radio Centre-Ville, la station multilingue de Montréal. On a … Continue reading “Regarde les Chinois : Yvonne Lo”
Le Regarde les Chinois de cette semaine est un peu particulier parce qu’il a été réalisé juste avant un interview que j’allais donner à mon invitée! Mercredi dernier, j’ai rencontré Yvonne Lo avant l’émission en cantonais qu’elle co-anime deux fois par semaine sur les ondes de Radio Centre-Ville, la station multilingue de Montréal. On a parlé de son implication à la radio, de bénévolat, son emploi en travail social, ce qu’elle veut pour la communauté chinoise et encore de son implication à la radio! On a pas parlé de ça, mais elle enseigne aussi le chinois chaque fin de semaine à l’école catholique chinois de Montréal, et siège maintenant sur le conseil du Service à la Famille Chinoise, où elle fut d’abord bénévole, puis coordinatrice du département de bénévolat in 2004.
This week’s Regarde les Chinois was quite interesting, because it done right before I was going to do an interview with my interviewee! Last Wednesday, I met Yvonne Lo before the twice-a-week Cantonese-language show that she co-hosts on Radio Centre-Ville, Montreal’s multilingual radio station. We talked about her involvement with the radio, volunteering, her job in social work, what she wants for the Chinese community, and again about her involvement with the radio! We didn’t talk about that, but she also teaches Chinese every weekend at the Montreal Catholic Chinese School and now sits on the board of the Chinese Family Service, where she started as a volunteer and then the volunteer department coordinator in 2004.
Language of the interview / Langue de l’interview : English (with sprinkles of Cantonese, a touch of French) / Anglais (et on saupoudre de cantonais, et met une touche de français)
Eugene Yao was born in Shanghai in 1946, and came to Canada in 1969 as a student of McGill University in electrical engineering, where he met his wife-to-be, Winnie Ng, a sociology student. He was later president of the Chinese Canadian National Council. In recent years, he became known for starting a commuter bicycle shop … Continue reading “Eugene Yao, 1946-2008: A Chinese Activist”
Eugene Yao was born in Shanghai in 1946, and came to Canada in 1969 as a student of McGill University in electrical engineering, where he met his wife-to-be, Winnie Ng, a sociology student. He was later president of the Chinese Canadian National Council. In recent years, he became known for starting a commuter bicycle shop in Toronto called The Urbane Cyclist. (Toronto Star | Activist Magazine)
My friend Bethany knew him personally and this is what she had to say about Yao:
Eugene was the most generous, kind-hearted person you could imagine. He was a forward-thinking man, and decided to leave traditional employment behind. He was married to Winnie Ng, well-known NDPer and immigrant- labour-rights activist in Toronto. They let me stay at his house for a month when I was working in Toronto and refused to let me pay them a cent, loved by all my friends who were clients of Urbane Cyclist.
I had just got my bike stolen when I moved in with them and Eugene kindly supplied me with a sturdy old beater for the month! Of course, it ran like a dream….